Mushy Minds
TCF Sermon
March 6, 2016
----------------------------------
NOTE: the powerpoint for this sermon, which includes a video and visuals illustrating the message, is freely available at this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/92pdz6wzg7liu32/Mushy%20Minds%20-%20TCF%20sermon%20presentation.pptx?dl=0
The asterisks are change cues for the powerpoint points.
----------------------------------
I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about why people think the way they think. In other words, I’ve been thinking about our thinking.
How, for example, can two people look at this shirt I’m wearing, and one person think it’s red, which is clearly the case, and another think it’s purple, or for that matter blue or white?
We’re looking at the same thing and see two completely different things. In the case of my shirt, it could be a simple matter of color-blindness – a physical condition.
But especially in light of the current state of politics – and don’t worry, this message will have very little to do with that – we have enough division in the nation without bringing it into the church – I’ve thought a lot about how people are able to hear what they want to hear, regardless of the facts, or in reality, regardless of the truth.
This is not a case of what’s right for me is right for me and what’s right for you is right for you. That may be OK when it comes to your favorite food or your favorite color or your favorite sport or your preferred vacation destination. #
It’s not a truth that the Rocky Mountains are the best place to go for a vacation. That’s my preference, but you may prefer the beach, or the Appalachians, or even a big city where there are a lot of things you can do.
But it’s not an incontrovertible truth that the Rockies are the best place to visit on vacation. That’s a very individual choice.
But with many other things, and that includes all of the most important things, as scripture defines important, what’s truth is truth. There’s no in-between. There’s a right way to see things and a wrong way to see things.
Paul implied exactly that with Timothy (in 2 Tim 2:15) # when he encouraged him to “rightly handle the word of truth.”
Doesn’t the fact that Paul instructed Timothy to rightly handle the word of truth clearly imply that if you can handle the word correctly, you can also wrongly, or incorrectly handle the word of truth?
And there we come down to the theme of this morning’s message, titled Mushy Minds. Consider this commercial from about 6 years ago, and note how it humorously makes one of the points we’re getting at today. But it’s almost a Screwtape letters kind of tactic – mocking the very truth it illustrates.
One worldview writer called this “shamelessly direct.” #
Play Hulu video clip (embedded clip available in this sermon’s accompanying powerpoint - see link above)
Of course, mushy is what we want to avoid – and not just so our brains are not made tastier for alien consumption.
One definition of mushy is soft, which does relate to our theme today. But the 2nd definition is more related to our look at the mind this morning.
# “Lacking in precision or definition.”
Now this commercial makes us laugh about TV turning our minds to mush, but you know what? Our own thinking can get quite mushy, soft, lacking in precision or definition, depending on how much, and how carefully, we consume, and unwittingly absorb, the worldview of unbelievers.
Our minds are the source of our worldview – that is, the lens through which we see the world around us. Most issues of our day comes down to our worldview. How we think about politics, morality, character, and almost everything else of importance is shaped by how we see the world. And how we see the world can be shaped by a variety of influences in the world.
We will be molded and shaped by the things in our life, and it’s our responsibility to decide which things in our life will have the largest and most significant influence in shaping the way we see life, and everything about life.
Of course, an easy target for something that should not, cannot be, the largest or most significant influence in our worldview is media. It’s an easy target because it’s so pervasive – we cannot escape it. It’s so potentially consumptive. And it is, for the most part, very reflective of an unbiblical worldview. Television, internet, music, entertainment, movies. If these things have too large a role in shaping us, our worldview will be skewed, # even as if we were looking at the world through a fish eye lens changes how everything looks.
This is true, whether we’re talking about pure entertainment, or even news. #
Everywhere people go and everything they consume shape their beliefs about reality and form their worldview. We live at a time in which Christians are more consumer driven than truth driven. Jonathan Morrow
Our key verse this morning is: #
Romans 12:2 (ESV) 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We see here both a warning, and an admonition to do something about it. The warning is “do not be conformed to this world.” The admonition is “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” So it’s not just “don’t be or think like the world.” It is that, but it’s more. #
not by a mere outward disconformity to the ungodly world, many of whose actions in themselves may be virtuous and praiseworthy; but by such an inward spiritual transformation as makes the whole life new—new in its motives and ends, even where the actions differ in nothing from those of the world—new, considered as a whole, and in such a sense as to be wholly unattainable save through the constraining power of the love of Christ. JFB Commentary
So the way we can avoid mushy minds, or being conformed to this world, is to allow the Holy Spirit through God’s Word to transform or change us, by renewing our minds.
Renewing means to renew qualitatively. It means a renewing, or a renovation, which makes a person different than in the past. The same word is used in Titus 3:5: #
Titus 3:5 (ESV) he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
So this renewal is part of the process of God changing, transforming us, into the image and likeness of Christ. He changes our thinking, and our renewed thinking changes what we do. So, we must remember this: Discipleship and worldview training goes on every single day, not just in the Sunday sermon or any time people spend at church.
One last illustration from our current fractured political discourse. #
A 30-minute sermon once a week or a brief morning prayer are not nearly as formative as the hours and hours a congregant may spend watching cable news, or listening to talk radio, or frequenting conspiratorial websites, or sharing articles that fan the flames of fear and anger. Discipleship is happening everywhere, and it’s likely that a left-wing or right-wing website is a bigger influence on a congregant’s worldview than the most recent sermon they heard. Trevin Wax
Of course, we could say the same about what’s meant to be pure entertainment. How can I or any of the elders, in a 40 minute Sunday morning sermon, possibly compete with the sheer volume of the messages you consume each week, on facebook, on television, in the movies you see, in the things you read, in the music you listen to?
I’m betting most of us, myself included, can more easily remember the lyrics of a popular song, than many passages of scripture. Now, that may be relatively harmless, but it may not be.
So it’s not necessarily about time. Time may be a factor, but it’s more about the lens through which we consume culture. Primarily, this is about discernment. And this passage from Romans 12 talks about that, too.
When our minds are renewed, when we’re not conformed with mushy minds, into the world’s ways of thinking, we’re better able to discern. Again, our key text:
Romans 12:2 (ESV) 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
As Christians, how we think matters to God. When defining the great commandment, Jesus said: #
Luke 10:27 (ESV) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
We cannot truly love God with just our feelings. Our minds must be included in the wholeness of that love for God. To live well, we must think well. All of our actions flow naturally from what we believe about reality, and especially what we believe about God, His revelation, His commandments, and how we are to relate to our neighbor.
Philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig wrote: #
“our churches are filled with people who are spiritually born again but who still think like non-Christians.”
What’s teaching you? If you’re in school, you’re learning. If you’re in church, you’re learning. If you’re in a job, you’re probably still learning. # But all of us have professors outside these settings. They’re named CBS, CNN, Fox News, youtube, movies. #
Embedded in all of these are images and ideas. Images are extremely powerful because they bypass rational thought and make direct impressions on the mind. And they are what drive culture today. Moreover, consumption of media is virtually the same inside and outside the church. This consumption then leads to the formation of certain universal background beliefs Jonathan Morrow
So we take a critical look at the lens – at our eyeglasses. We take a critical look, a discerning look, at the roadmaps we use to navigate life. Scripture is our roadmap, and the Word assumes that it is truly possible to examine all of the messages we consume from the world around us, in light of our transformation into the image and likeness of Christ. #
Colossians 2:8 (ESV) See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
The scientist Johannes Kepler described science as # "thinking God's thoughts after Him."
Isn’t that what we’re after here? It’s a matter of perspective, which means, to see through. What you see through, the perspective you have, makes a difference.
When we see the world through the very lens of God’s revealed Word, the scriptures we are so blessed to have abundant access to, it makes a difference in our worldview, and our worldview makes a difference in our actions. We can see things in different situations through a different lens.
There’s the story of a shoe manufacturer who decided to open the Congo market. He sent two salesmen to the undeveloped territory. One salesman cabled back: "Prospects here nil. No one wears shoes." The other salesman reported enthusiastically, "Market potential terrific! Everyone is barefooted."
I think the second salesman, the enthusiastic one, was probably Joel Vesanen.
How we respond to life, how we think about issues, depends on the perspective we have. How we see the world is our worldview, and worldview and perspective are closely related. Our perspective on life is how we think.
So a Christian worldview means we think like a Christian. It’s important to note how scripture views the use of, the importance of, our minds - our thinking, as we’ve already highlighted.
The fact is that scripture is clear about using our minds. Yet, in our culture, which relies so heavily on subjective personal experiences, and also, in many charismatic and evangelical circles, we've sometimes considered mind a four letter word. Life’s about feelings, not thinking. Yet, we’ve seen what scripture has to say about our minds.
So, if the Word is truly our guide, we have to admit that the Biblical idea of mind includes both thinking and feeling. We so often create this false separation between our hearts and our minds. Many Christians have lost the art of thinking, and how thinking and understanding is a vital part of our faith. And thinking can be hard work sometimes, and sometimes we’re just not willing to do it.
Also, we sometimes have an either/or mentality about heart versus mind – when in reality it should be both/and. It shouldn't be heart versus mind, it should be heart and mind. We put heart and mind at odds with each other, and instead, need to recognize that they complement one another - in fact, in a biblical understanding, they are most often different aspects of one and the same thing.
Pitting heart versus mind, separating reason and experience, can be a barrier for us as believers as we try to develop a fully Biblical worldview. Some people have, at times, corrupted the idea of our minds that scripture speaks of.
British theologian Colin Gunter, suggested that #
“As created, reason is good; as fallen, it is extremely liable to prideful ascendancy to the throne of man's life.”
So, before we move forward this morning, let’s be absolutely clear. The thinking part of our minds, or our rational thought, cannot be, and is not, our sole means of access to God. Apart from Christ, our minds are prone to pride. It’s only as we are sanctified in Him that our reason is sanctified. And apart from the Holy Spirit, we cannot really understand anything of Biblical truth to begin with.
Yet, as believers, we are commanded, to love God with our minds. Scripture teaches that we have a clear responsibility to not only use our minds, but to renew our minds...and there’s a clear purpose behind this.
In a larger sense, the prevailing worldview in any given culture, affects much more than individual lives - it impacts history, it impacts nations. Let’s look at just a few examples:
In Thailand, the peasant is labeled with a phrase that means "destined to poverty." This attitude enslaves the poor in poverty, with no hope of ever finding their way out of it.
Hinduism sees perfection as a state of resignation. This causes people to withdraw from the world and not attack its evils.
Secularism sees man as a "machine," or an animal at best. This reduces the motivation to protect the life of the marginalized such as the pre-born, the handicapped or the elderly. And it’s also why a sizeable segment of our culture is OK with Planned Parenthood selling baby parts. After all, they’re just “specimens” or “products of conception.”
So, how we perceive the world’s problems depends on our worldview. The best example is with life issues. As followers of Jesus, we believe that each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. This is a significant element in our Christian worldview. That means every life has value, from the time of conception to the time of death…. from the womb to the tomb. There is no second-class life.
But where people believe a worldview does not include the idea that we are made in the image and likeness of God, we can begin to understand why they also do not believe in the value of the unborn, the handicapped, or the elderly.
We need to recognize how a Christian worldview impacts the way we should think about everything we encounter in our day to day existence - the culture we live in, history, people, disasters, good things, bad things, etc...
It’s helpful to take a closer look at the difference in worldviews - between believers in Jesus Christ and unbelievers. #
Much of the world's view is shaped by relativism - the idea that you should do whatever is right for you. They take the personal preferences idea we talked about earlier, related to favorite foods or favorite vacation destinations, and apply it to all of life. What’s good for you is fine, and what’s good for me is fine - no one has the right to tell you what to do, because values and morals are subjective, not objective. Truth is determined by a majority vote, it’s a product of our culture, so different cultures have different truths, as do individuals within those cultures. Truth is not something revealed to us.
On the other hand, the Christian's worldview is formed out of the objective, revealed truth of Scripture. We discover truth, we don’t make it. It rests on absolutes.
The world's view is secular (meaning of this world, of the present age). It’s the same idea in the translation of Romans 12:2 where it says do not be conformed to this world – we could also translate it do not be conformed to this age. It emphasizes the here and now, and leads to a desire for instant gratification.
It de-emphasizes anything related to the transcendent, that is, anything religious.
The Christian's view, on the other hand, is eternal. Because of that, what we do now is not passing and unimportant - it counts forever. What’s more, we recognize that this life is just the beginning.
The world's view is often anti-historical - denying the importance and value of history as something we can learn from, as well as rewriting history according to our own modern view of the events – in other words, we’re so much more intelligent now that we cannot possibly believe the foolish things that people in the past believed.
Another way of saying this, is that it is deconstructionist. An example might be the study of literature, where the original intent of the author of any work doesn’t matter. What we think of it in our time and in our context is what matters.
The flip side of this is the Christian's worldview, which acknowledges the historical account of God's work, from the beginning, and doesn’t seek to change history to match an agenda. Christians view history much as the Hebrew mindset before us: that is, events are a part of God’s whole divine purpose. God has a plan.
Hebrew and Christian history is dominated by the idea of purpose – that is, God’s redemptive purpose in history.
The world's view is naturalistic - in this worldview, nature is supreme. Because of this, all nature is equal, and there is no longer a reason for humanity to be considered as anything special in nature.
This makes it impossible to say one creature has greater worth than another. It also glorifies science as the only means of explaining life.
The Christian's view is based on the supernatural - there’s more going on than meets the eye. There’s a spiritual reality that may not be visible, but is just as real as what we can feel and touch.
Ideally, a Christian worldview is not anti-science in any way. It just recognizes that science cannot explain everything, and a Christian worldview embraces science as a revelation of God’s creation.
Also, the world's view is pragmatic. That is, do whatever works. This leaves us without a moral compass to gauge direction. The question “does it work,” not wrong in and of itself, but it often ignores the question “is it right or wrong?”
The Christian's view is just the opposite. It’s idealistic - we do what is right by objective standards, as revealed in God’s Word, even if the consequences are difficult.
One survey of mainline denomination members found that only 32% believed that their faith had anything to do with their life outside of church. In other words, the things they think and believe don’t have an impact on most of their life, or how they choose to live. The late Charles Colson called this “a deadly form of schizophrenia.” #
"Understanding the antithesis between the secular mind-set and the Christian world-view - in other words, seeing how they are complete opposites - people of faith need to look critically at every area of life and measure each area from this perspective - from a Christian worldview. Nothing should be too secular to escape sacred scrutiny."
Whether you recognize it or not, you do have a worldview. It’s not open to choice. The only choices you can make are what kind of worldview you want to have, what you will allow to shape and mold that worldview, and, whether or not you want to understand your worldview.
It’s my hope and prayer that we would endeavor, as faithful followers of Christ, to have a fully integrated Biblical worldview. Why?
Because what many have called the culture wars in our day are really worldview wars. Folks, our Christian worldview is more and more out of step with the predominant worldviews we see in our culture. We can’t just decide what to believe – we have to understand why, and we must base our worldview on God’s Word, which includes His revelation of how the world is supposed to work.
Thinking of things that are mushy – how about cotton candy? It looks big and appealing, but it’s just a big soft mushy ball of sugar. C.S. Lewis wasn’t a big fan of cotton candy Christians.
# “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which will take the whole of you, brains and all.” C.S. Lewis
We can’t just feel. We have to think. We need to take Christianity seriously again.
We must embrace God’s calling to think, and love Him with all of our minds. We must hear His call to not be conformed to this world. We must hear His call to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Will we do that? Will we commit to that today?
Pray
